I’m currently reading…

This one is the September #owlcrate selection which I have been excited to read since it's arrival. As I was finishing The Fionavar Tapestry I realised I was still very much in the mood for more fantasy so I decided to read this one first in hopes of finishing it before the November box arrives because at this point I've only read 1/4 of the books I've received! I also have a lot of other recently purchased books that I want to get around to, like I'm really in the mood for some Kelley Armstrong so I think after I finish this one I'm going to start Sea of Shadows. So far after I am up to page 77 which puts me about half way through chapter 5, but I think I've had the major twist of the book figured out since 3 pages into chapter 2. That's not necessarily a bad thing and it hasn't stopped me enjoying the novel. I've been itching to keep reading it all day actually, I didn't want to stop before work this morning.

"When kingdom come, there will be one.

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose…it’s life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.The last queen standing gets the crown." -- via Goodreads

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: How has your reading changed in the last 10 years?

My reading has changed a lot in the last 10 years in quality, quantity and choice. By which I mean the amount of reading I do, the books I select and how I read them. For starters since finishing my Bachelor's degree in English in 2009 I find myself unable to NOT read a book with a critical eye, which can actually be really annoying sometimes. When you're reading critically you can't help but notice every little flaw, or as Angie tells me frequently, nitpicking. I am definitely guilty of that sometimes. I also find myself doing a lot more analysing while I am reading which I never used to do before university. Reading critically is super important though I just wish that I still knew how to turn it off. I can still lose myself in a really good book but even then the critical part of my brain is still there as background noise.

I also read a lot more each year now than I did 10 years ago. I think I've mentioned a couple of times before that I dislike being forced to read certain books and then feel guilty about reading the books I want to read instead? Well over the last 10 years obviously I've had fewer and fewer assigned books since finishing my degrees and diplomas. So now a days the only "assigned" books that still make me feel that way are certain selections from my self-imposed reading challenges. I know right now that I am not going to complete either the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge or the Pop Sugar reading challenge because none of the books I have left on my lists are as appealing to me as the books I have been buying lately that I want to read. I can't help it, I just don't like having to force myself to push through a book I'm not that into, not when there are so, so many books out there that I could really lose myself in if given half a chance.

The last thing that has changed in my read habit over the last 10 years is the choices I make in terms of what I read. Over the last 10 years I've really expanded my horizons into different genres and authors that I had never explored before. I used to be firmly a YA reader, but then I found some Adult fiction that I could get into and that was a gateway into the world of Adult genre fiction for me, my shelves, and my favourites list are still a very healthy mix of middle grade, YA, and adult stuff though. I remember when I finally discovered that romance novels didn't have to be as bad as I thought they were (thank you for that professor who assigned me Outlander for a class in 2008!). Now I go through phases where for about 2 months all I read are harlequin romances (the paranormal ones mostly). I used to firmly be a fantasy reader with the occasional sci-fi thrown in and maybe a thriller and a mystery every now and again. But then I thought I'd like to get into reader's advisory in public libraries and that meant becoming more knowledgeable about all the genres. So I try to consume a wide and varied diet in my reading but there are still some areas where I could improve. I don't read nearly enough historical fiction.

I also read a LOT more graphic novels than I used to! I grew up reading Archie comics, but I went through a phase where I was convinced that comics and graphic novels were cheating. Honestly I feel awful that I ever said that because there are so, so many really gorgeous and fantastic and rich and wonderfully written graphic novels out there! I've also started consuming both ebooks and audiobooks in the last 10 years which were two other formats I was never expecting to enjoy.

2 comments:

I haven't read a lot of graphic novels. I get so lost in the visual story that I don't follow the written one. And I totally agree with what you've said about reading with a critical eye. Sometimes it's hard to shut that off and just read!